The Beauty of First, Er, Second Love
by orligirl02
Summary: Ron receives a love letter- but who is it from? This first chapter really just explains Ron's failed relationship with Hermione, but I promise the second chapter picks up a bit!
1. Default Chapter

The Beauty of First, Er, Second Love

Ron Weasley sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast. Having just come down, he was still a fair bit sleepy, and therefore wasn't focusing very well.

Harry Potter slid into the seat next to Ron, looking much the same way he did. Harry gazed blearily around the Great Hall, then proceeded to load his plate with scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Ron, Harry! I can't believe you waited until the last possible minute to come to breakfast! We have double Potions first thing! Did either of you do your homework last night?"

The voice belonged to resident bookworm Hermione Granger, the two boys' best friend. She sat across from them, briskly buttering her toast as she glared at them.

"Come on, Hermione! You know we had Quidditch practice last night! Besides, we did it when we came in!" Harry looked affronted at Hermione's accusations.

As the two friends began bickering about homework, Ron's mind drifted back to last year, when he and Hermione had attempted dating. It had been a disaster from the beginning.

At first, they had genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Ron recalled how he had asked Hermione out, finally.

It had been during Christmas. The three friends had stayed at Hogwarts instead of going to the Burrow or Grimmauld Place. They knew Harry was still grieving over Sirius, and wanting their friend to be happy, they had agreed to stay.

On Christmas Day, after Hermione had come in to their dorm to share in the gift opening, they had agreed to go outside for a bit. They were planning on visiting Hagrid and giving him their gifts.

Once outside, they had started across the grounds to Hagrid's hut, when Ron suddenly noticed how much snow had fallen the night before. Like most boys, he'd thought evil little things, then picked up a handful of snow and quickly shaped it into the perfect ball.

Aiming carefully, he had launched it at Harry, intending for it to smack his friend in the head. But to his absolute horror, he watched as the ball flew through the air and exploded against Hermione's bum instead.

She had turned slowly on the spot and simply looked at him. Ron had begun offering up feeble apologies as Harry snickered beside her.

"Merlin, Hermione, I wasn't trying to hit you, I swear! I was aiming for that pathetic lump of Potter next to you, and, I don't know, it just…"

Ron had trailed off as Hermione just raised an eyebrow, scarily reminiscent of Draco Malfoy. He had not registered Harry's indignant exclamation at being called a pathetic lump, or the fact that Harry had thrown a snowball at Ron and badly missed. He had eyes only for Hermione, who had suddenly reached down, picked up a lump of snow and hurled it at Ron. It had struck him square in the face. She had begun laughing, as did Harry. Well, Ron couldn't take that kind of abuse, and had immediately declared war on the two Gryffindors.

They had begun having a massive snowball fight, screaming, throwing snowballs, and generally having a good time, when Ron had decided to get braver and had run, yelling a war cry, straight at Hermione.

She had shrieked, but pelted him in the face with another snowball just as he reached her.

Ron was spitting snow out and wiping his face when he suddenly looked up and really saw Hermione for the first time. He realized just how gorgeous she had become, and unable to help himself, had stepped forward and kissed her.

Hermione's eyes had almost popped out of her head, but she had kissed him back. Ron had then asked her to go with him next Hogsmeade weekend, to which she had given an enthusiastic yes.

After their first date, they had another, and another, and another, until Hermione had rather boldly asked if they were just going to date for the rest of their lives or were they actually going to become exclusive.

The entire Great Hall had heard her, and had laughed uproariously at this. Ron, face redder than a tomato, had asked in a shaky voice, if she would be his girlfriend. Hermione had responded by jumping to her feet and kissing him senseless, to which the Hall had burst into simultaneous applause and shouts of "It's about time," or "Knew you had it in you, Weasley!" It had been beautiful.

They had started out as any other couple; holding hands, kissing, snuggling. But they both had known that bickering would ultimately continue. Unintentionally, but it was there, nonetheless.

Bickering had spiraled into screaming, which had gone to Hermione bursting into tears, which came to not speaking for days, sometimes weeks at a time.

But it finally came crashing down one evening when Ron accused Hermione of seeing another guy.

"I saw you, Herm! It was that Terry Boot from Ravenclaw. You were in the library, and then you were kissing! If that's what you call tutoring, it's no wonder everyone is asking you to do it!"

Hermione, speechless with fury, had walked over to Ron and slapped him straight in the face. The Common Room had gone silent. The couple had their rows, but it had never escalated into anything physical.

She had just opened her mouth, when Lavender Brown had come tearing in the Common Room, saying, "You'll never guess who's dating now! They were kissing in the library and Madam Pince threw them out!"

"She did, huh? Did the girl have bushy, brown hair, Lavender?" Ron had been glaring at Hermione as he said this.

Lavender had looked between the two of them, in obvious confusion.

"Well, yes, she did."

Ron had been about to call Hermione something that would have made his mum wash his mouth out with soap, but Lavender had already plowed on.

"It was Terry Boot," here Ron had thrown Hermione a look of fury, "and that girl, Laura Madley, from Hufflepuff! Can you believe it? She's almost four years younger than he is! On top of that…"

Ron's jaw had dropped. He was turning towards Hermione to apologize, but she simply brushed him off, and after telling Harry goodnight, had gone to her dormitory.

At breakfast the next morning, she had told Ron that she thought it best if they split up before it could get any worse between them and they hated each other. Ron had been sad, and had even protested a bit, but ultimately he had agreed. He knew she was right, and he didn't want to lose a friend because of it.

Things had been a bit stiff between them for a bit, but in the end it was like it had always been. Of course it wasn't perfect, but they knew it couldn't be exactly the same again. They just never mentioned what had gone down between them; it was too painful to dredge up.

Coming back to the present, Ron looked up in time to see the post arriving. He wasn't paying much attention, as he wasn't expecting anything, but to his enormous surprise, a tawny owl dropped a letter on his plate. On the front it said

Ron Weasley

Gryffindor Table

Great Hall

Hogwarts

Ron was nonplussed. It was obviously a school owl.

Looking at Harry, he could tell Harry had no idea who would use a school owl when they could have just come up to him in school to talk.

Shrugging, Ron ripped open the envelope. Suddenly, a magically magnified voice, he couldn't tell whose, began reciting a poem.

Thou wouldst be loved? – then let thy heart

From its present pathway part not!

Being everything which now thou art,

Be nothing which thou art not.

So with the world thy gentle ways,

Thy grace, thy more than beauty,

Shall be an endless theme of praise,

And love – a simple duty.

All over the Hall, people were looking at Ron, who could not have been more flustered or confused. Suddenly, a letter fell out of the envelope beside his plate.

"Herm? What is this?" Ron was gesturing at the letter and the poem, which had begun reciting again.

Hermione looked shocked. Her gaze lifted to Ron, and she squeaked out, "I-It's a l-love letter. With a poem. To you."

"A love letter? To me?" Ron looked floored, and no one could blame him. It wasn't often a person chose the Great Hall as the place to declare a crush, love, etc. The fear of being rejected in front of people held back many a person, but still, you could dream.

"Right, well, what does this bloody poem mean, then?" Ron gestured into thin air, where the poem was playing for the fifth time.

"Well, it's pretty obvious Ron. It's saying that this person loves you, Merlin knows why, and doesn't want you to change who you are. Whoever sent this is also saying they admire you." Hermione had gotten over her shock and was looking dubious now. "Are you going to read the letter or not? Maybe we can find out who sent it."

Ron looked at the still closed envelope, and holding at away from him as if it would bite, slit it open and shook out the contents. A simple, one page note fell out. Ron picked it up, unfolded it, and began reading it.

Dear Ron, the letter began,

I hope you liked the poem. I know it was a bit forward of me to send it at breakfast, but I don't know if you feel the same way about me as I do about you, and for this reason, I can't reveal who I am yet. I was hoping you could write me back and we could become pen pals. Maybe if you got to know me a bit first, we could meet. I don't want you to reject me, and I'm afraid if you knew who I was, you might. If you want to become pen pals, that's great. Instead of owling me, I've arranged for the letters to be delivered to me through a good friend of mine. Her name is Luna Lovegood, I'm sure you know her. All you have to do is give the notes to her and she'll deliver them to me.

Please consider this, Ron. I would so like to become friends with you, maybe even more. Please give Luna a reply no later than lunch. Whoops, Filch is coming, I'd better go now. Take care Ron.

Your Secret Admirer and

Hope to be Pen Pal

Ron finished reading the letter and his eyes grew round with disbelief. Harry, who had been reading over his shoulder, looked amused, while Hermione had begun giggling.

"Ron has a secret admirer, Ron has a secret admirer," she sing songed. Looking more reserved, Hermione gave Ron a questioning look.

"Are you going to do it? You'd better, because it sounds as if this poor girl will be absolutely crushed if you don't, and then I'll have to disembowel you for hurting her feelings." She looked completely calm and collected as she watched Ron battle with himself inwardly.

"Herm, I won't have enough time, what with homework and Quidditch. Plus, you know, I'm behind on homework as it is, and I really should catch up…" Ron continued in this vein, obviously pulling all the stops to try and get out of it.

"Absolutely not, Ron. I won't let you crush this poor girl's hope. Besides, it takes what, maybe five minutes to write a simple letter? No, you'll just have to find the time, because you are going to do it. Are you very clear on this?"

Hermione was using her patented Do It If You Know What's Good For You Look. She used it constantly to get Harry and Ron to do homework, and it had never failed yet.

Ron seemed to deflate under her glare. He knew Hermione would stay on him about it until he did it anyway, so he might as well save both of them the fighting that would most assuredly come if he didn't. Sighing loudly, he nodded resignedly.

"Yes, alright Herm, I'll do it. But let me say it's only because you are forcing me to, not because I want to, okay?" Ron dug a scrap of parchment and a quill out of his bag and scrawled a quick affirmative on the back of the letter. Sealing it, he looked up and motioned to Luna at the Ravenclaw table to come over.

Luna looked absolutely overjoyed that he had decided to become pen pals with this nameless friend of hers. She told Ron in her dreamy voice how much the person would love to get his letter and asked if he had he heard the latest news about Crumple- Horned Snorkacks.

Ron quickly blew her off by saying they had to get to lessons, and the three Gryffindors began collecting their things. Luna looked disappointed, but told Ron he could expect a reply from his pen pal at breakfast tomorrow.

Hermione giggled, and to change the subject, said in a chipper voice, "Double Potions, you two! Let's hurry, we don't want to be late!"

As she walked quickly away, Harry and Ron said together in monotone voices, "Double Potions. Yay. Can the day get any better?"

And groaning, they followed Hermione to the dungeons.


	2. Chapter 2

The Beauty of, First, Er, Second Love

Chapter 2

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to Snape's class, talking about the letter and who could have sent it. Ron himself was absolutely befuddled as to who would write him a love letter and then include a poem on top of it. He ran through a list of possible people.

To Ron's way of thinking, it was probably a Gryffindor, but he wouldn't rule out any House, to be on the safe side. Well, except Slytherin for obvious reasons. Now, who had been acting strange around him lately?

Parvati Patil! She had most certainly been a basket case whenever Ron came around, always blushing and making excuses as to why she had some emergency or other. Now that he thought about it, Lavender had been doing the same thing. Last Hogsmeade weekend, the two of them had followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione around, showing up in the same places and finally annoying Hermione so much that she had asked them if they had an _Insectationis_ Charm 1 on them. Embarrassed, they had fled, Hermione sniffing contemptuously as they went. They had avoided the three for a week after that, until Hermione made amends with them.

Okay, so Parvati and Lavender were definite possibilities. But who else? Ron wracked his brains, thinking back the past week or so.

Luna! Maybe she had made up the whole elaborate pen pal plan to get him to notice her. But wait. He frowned. Luna always acted a bit off. It was just a part of her wacky personality. Okay, maybe not Luna, but he wouldn't scratch her off the list until he was positive she wasn't a possibility.

Coming out of his thoughts, he realized they had reached the Potions classroom. The three hurried in and quickly sat down. To his chagrin, Lavender and Parvati sat directly in front of them, giggling and shooting glances at them out of the corners of their eyes.

He sighed. Hogwarts' Resident Airheads, as he'd privately come to call them, were really getting bothersome.

He drew his attention to the front of the room, where Professor Snape had entered in that sinister, bat like fashion he had perfected. Ron actually did entertain thoughts that Snape was quite possibly a vampire. He certainly had the look and personality down.

After looking disdainfully around at the Gryffindors, Harry in particular, Snape began to speak. He hadn't been too happy that several of the sixth year Gryffindors had managed to get in his N.E.W.T. Potions class, Neville in particular. But against all odds, Neville had succeeded. It turned out Neville had high hopes of being an Auror as well as Harry and Ron.

"Today, we will be brewing the _Mendacium_ Potion. Can anyone tell me what this potion does?"

Hermione immediately raised her hand, but Snape ignored her in favor of Draco Malfoy. He nodded at Malfoy who immediately launched into a description of the potion.

"The _Mendacium _Potion enables a witch or wizard to lie. They can fabricate tales of any kind because this potion has no restrictions. It was developed in 1568 by Jegos Ubdejsov, a wizard of Russian and German descent. He frequently used this potion when hiding untruths from his wife. It was also thought to have been used by Death Eaters who wished to remain in hiding. Furthermore, the potion only lasts about 30 minutes after you swallow it."

There was silence as Malfoy smirked around the room at Harry and Ron. Ron felt his blood boil.

_I bet his dear Daddy used that to make the Ministry think he was innocent!_ Ron fumed at the possibility, but refrained from dwelling on it as Snape spoke again.

"Correct, Mr. Malfoy. Twenty points to Slytherin. Now, the instructions are on the board," Snape flicked his wand, "and the ingredients are in the storeroom. When you are finished, put a sample in a flask and bring it to me for testing. And mind that you follow the instructions to the letter; the last thing we need is some dunce being poisoned."

Snape was glaring at Neville in particular as he said this. Neville, who once would have squeaked and began stammering at this look, now only turned slightly pink, but glared back at Snape nonetheless, who seemed shocked that Neville had it in him.

Turning away, Snape stalked back to his desk as the students moved to get up and get their ingredients.

Ron, feeling immensely pleased that Neville had finally quit bowing to Snape, gathered his ingredients and returned to his desk.

As he sat back down, he whispered his suspicions about Lucius Malfoy to Harry and Hermione. Harry appeared to be thinking it over, and presently said, "You know, that would make sense. I mean, we all know the Malfoys are evil enough to do it. But I wonder where he would have gotten it? Is that considered a Dark potion?"

"Well…not exactly," said Hermione.

"What do you mean, not exactly, Herm? If it enables you to tell whatever lies you want, it must be Dark!" Ron seemed as sure of this as he was of his hatred for all things Malfoy.

"It depends on the intent of the Potion. If you were using it to do wrong, then yes, but if it was for a good cause, then no." Hermione calmly began shredding her mugwort as she said this.

Ron looked at her as though he thought she had quite lost her head. Harry appeared to be thinking about her words as he set up his cauldron and began slicing his caterpillars.

"Excuse me, Hermione, but I've never yet known there to be a 'good' lie. If it's a lie, it's dishonest, right?" Ron was furiously chopping his own caterpillars as he waited for her answer.

"It depends," said Hermione, but before she could go on, Harry interrupted.

"I get it, Herm! Like if you deliberately kept something with the intention to cause pain or harm, it's bad. But if you do it to prevent hurt or pain, it's good, yeah?"

"You could say that," Hermione said thoughtfully, now adding a single unicorn tail hair to her potion. "I mean, it might not be for a good cause, but the intention is good. Maybe if Lucius Malfoy did use the potion, it was to prevent hurting Draco or his wife. We'll probably never know. But just so you know, Ron, I do think he did it to keep his Death Eater status hidden, not for a good reason."

Ron appeared satisfied with this answer, and they worked in silence until Snape finally called, "You should be done with your potions by now. Gather a sample and we'll test it out."

Snape waited until all the flasks of potion were before him, then selected one out of the bunch. Peering at the name on it, he looked at the class and said, "We will be testing Mr. Malfoy's potion. So… Potter, come up here. Now," he growled, when Harry made no move to get up.

Glaring at Snape, Harry walked to the front of the room and waited. Snape took a dropper and instructed Harry to stick out his tongue to receive the potion.

"If Mr. Malfoy has correctly produced a _Mendacium_ potion, Potter will lie about anything we ask. Not that it would be a change from his usual person…"

Here, the Slytherins laughed, but Ron hissed under his breath. _Git_, he thought. _Wonder what Snape would say if we fed the potion to him._ Ron grinned maliciously as this thought entered his head, then turned back to the front of the room, where Snape was saying, "If the potion was incorrectly brewed, it is certain Potter will be poisoned." He almost seemed eager at this.

Harry swallowed nervously, but allowed Snape to dribble the potion on his tongue. He swallowed, grimacing at the taste, then looked up at Snape expectantly.

"So, Potter," Snape said, smirking. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," said Harry, looking surprised at this question. His eyes widened as he went on to say, "Except that Malfoy is looking very handsome today. Almost makes me want to snog him." A blush quickly flamed on Harry's face at these words.

Malfoy looked disgusted and said, "He's lying, right, Professor?"

Snape looked pleased as he said, "Yes, I believe so. Unless Potter has developed an attraction to you…have you, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry said, looking horrified.

The class laughed, but Hermione said, "He's lying, remember? The potion is working!"

"Well, then…Potter, when you came to Hogwarts, what did you think of Weasley?" Ron stared hard at Harry as he waited for his answer.

"Ron? Well, to be honest, I thought he was a right prat. I still don't like him, really." Harry looked mortified.

Ron grinned at this, and called, "A prat, huh? What did you think of Malfoy when you saw him on the train?"

The class looked at Harry, who responded, "I thought he was great! Who wouldn't want to be his friend?"

Laughter burst from all the Gryffindors; Harry himself was grinning at his words.

Malfoy looked furious, then spat, "Potter, I've got a question for you. You never answered when I asked last year how it felt coming in second to Weasley for Prefect. So, I'm asking again. How does it feel?"

"Well, obviously I'm very glad I lost out on it. Later, when I really thought about it, I realized I was furious that Dumbledore hadn't chosen me. So I guess you could say I was glad at first, then later I was angry."

Harry avoided looking at Ron as he said it, knowing he was furious. He couldn't really blame him after the drabble he'd spouted.

Ron was shocked, to say the least. Harry had been jealous of him? Usually it was the other way around, but here Harry was, admitting he had been upset he hadn't got Prefect. Of course, he'd also admitted he'd been happy for Ron later, which he appreciated. A warm glow spread through Ron at these words, while Malfoy looked disappointed.

"Thanks, mate," he called. "I've got another question for you. Are you glad you got into Gryffindor? Or would you rather have been put into another House?"

"I hate being a Gryffindor," Harry said sincerely. "It's the worst House of the lot! And I'm very upset I didn't get into Slytherin, it was the House I was hoping for and all. When I first heard about it, I remember thinking how much I wanted to be a Slytherin, especially after the great things I heard about the witches and wizards there." Harry looked grim as he said this last bit.

"So what House did you expect to get into?" Hermione had called this out, looking curious.

"Hufflepuff," and here Harry looked surprised, because it was the truth. "Professor, I think the potion is wearing off. That last bit is true."

The class chuckled, and a fair few looked surprised that Harry expected to be in Hufflepuff.

"Very well, Potter. Twenty- five points to Slytherin for a perfect _Mendacium_ Potion, and twenty points from Gryffindor for that bit about my House, Potter. Class dismissed." Snape swept from the room, his cloak billowing out behind him.

"Wow, Harry, I never knew you thought you'd be a Hufflepuff!" said Hermione, looking shocked.

"Yeah, well, it was when I first heard about the Houses. All I knew for sure was I didn't want to be a Slytherin," Harry replied, not mentioning he almost had ended up there.

"Don't blame you, mate. I'd jump off the Astronomy Tower if I ended up in Slytherin. Mind you, I'd have to do it before Mum and Dad found out; they'd go round the bend for sure!"

Ron was piling a mound of mashed potatoes on his plate as he said this. The Gryffindors had come from the dungeons to eat lunch, then it was off to Transfiguration.

"I can't believe Snape took points just because you said you were glad you didn't get into Slytherin! What a !" (Here Ron used a VERY bad word indeed.)

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "You shouldn't talk about a professor that way! What if he heard you?"

Ron opened his mouth, probably to say where Snape could stick it, but before he could say anything, a barn owl swooped down and dropped a letter on his plate. On the front it said in curly script, as before:

Ron Weasley 

_Gryffindor Table_

_Great Hall_

Hogwarts 

"Not another one!" Ron groaned, banging his head on the table a few times. "Luna said it wouldn't be here till breakfast tomorrow!"

Harry was snickering into his roast beef; Hermione had seized the letter and proceeded to open it.

She glanced at it, then gave it to Ron, saying, "It's only telling you some of the things she likes, really. Here, read it."

She shoved the letter under Ron's nose. He took it as though waiting for it to bite, and unfolded it, to see what his Pen Pal had written.

_Dear Ron,_

_I hope Potions wasn't too horrible for you. Snape really isn't fair to take points from all Houses except Slytherin. _

_I know I said I would write you tomorrow, but I couldn't wait. I had this all written and ready to send, so I thought, Well, why not send it now? I hope you don't mind._

_Since I can't really tell you what House I'm in, I thought I might tell you some interests I have. I'd like it if you could do the same when you write me back, please._

_Okay, well, my favorite color is purple. My dorm mates can't stand the fact that I have my side of the room in purple. It kind of clashes a bit. I also like blue and green as well._

_I love reading, although I don't do it as much as Hermione Granger. I can't stand homework or exams. My favorite classes are Charms and Astronomy, and my favorite professor is Professor Sinistra._

_I love Quidditch; my favorite team is the Montrose Magpies. I hear you like the Chudley Cannons? Well, they're all right, I suppose._

_I also like unicorns, dragons and mermaids. Not the ones here, of course, I mean the ones in tropical areas. They are so lovely!_

_I suppose that's all I can tell you. If you were wondering, I'm a half blood. I trust this won't be a problem? From what I know of your family, I shouldn't think so._

_I should go now; I have class in twenty minutes, and I'll be late if I don't go now. Please write me back soon, Ron!_

_Your Pen Pal_

Ron read this through quickly, the points his pen pal had given stacking in his head.

An idea bulb flashed in Ron's mind, and he dug out a spare scrap of parchment. He quickly wrote down all the things the girl in his letter said she liked, taking particular note of her favorite colors and the fact that purple clashed in her dorm a bit.

Hermione watched, smiling, and said, "Do you plan on finding out who it is by taking down notes on her? Because if you do, I can help you."

Ron looked surprised at this offer, then nodded. "Yeah, okay, Herm. You have neater handwriting than me anyway."

He pushed the notes over to Hermione, who copied them down neatly on another piece of parchment.

After doing this, she took out another bit and said, "Ok, let's write your answer now."

Ron looked overjoyed, at least until Hermione said, "No, I'm not writing that. You are. I'm just lending you the parchment, since all yours is ruined. Go on, then, write her back."

Grumbling, Ron took the parchment. He ran through a list in his head of possible things to write, and finally settled upon this:

_Dear Pen Pal,_

_I completely understand about Snape. My guess is you aren't in Slytherin since you said that. Ha!_

_I like lots of things. You are right about the Cannons, I've supported them since I was eight. The Magpies are all right as well._

_My favorite color is blue. I hate all kinds of schoolwork. I don't have a favorite professor, but I can say that I hate Snape! I don't have a favorite class, unless you count meals. As for animals, I hate snakes and spiders, but I like dragons all right. _

_As for your blood, I'm not Malfoy. My best friends are a Muggleborn and a half blood, so it wouldn't make sense if I had a problem with your blood. _

_I should go now as well; Transfiguration is in half an hour. Ummm…have a nice day? Have fun in your classes? I'm really nothing but bollocks at letter writing, you know._

_Ron_

Hermione sighed as she read over Ron's shoulder. "Well, I suppose that will have to do. You should go give it to Luna now so she can give it to your pen pal. Hurry, we'll be late if we don't leave now."

Ron went over to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Luna on the shoulder. She turned, her protuberant eyes widening as she saw the letter in his hand. It made her look like an owl.

"Thank you, Ron! My friend will appreciate this so much!"

Ron blushed, mumbling, "It was nothing, really. Erm, I have to go. Transfiguration and Hermione waiting and…er… well, I have to go. Bye!"

Ron turned and ran out of the Great Hall.

Luna looked up and winked at a certain face at a certain table, holding up the letter. The person blushed and nodded, signaling for Luna to bring it over.

She rose and hurried over, putting the letter in front of her friend.

"Wow, he wrote back already! I wasn't expecting this until breakfast or lunch tomorrow!" The girl swept her hair off her face as she examined Ron's looping scrawl.

"I know. But the point is, he wrote back! So when are you planning on telling him who you are?"

"I really don't know. Let's see how it goes with writing letters first. If he asks to meet me, we can set something up. If not, well…" She sighed as this thought entered her mind. What if Ron found out who she was and didn't like her?

She shook her head and thought, _I'll cross that bridge when I get to it._ "Well, I really should go, Luna. I have to get to Charms now. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye!" Luna hurried to her seat and collected her bag. She hoped Ron wasn't going to hurt her friend. She had fancied him for ages, but never had the nerve to do anything about it.

_If he hurts her…_ Luna swept this thought away. Ron could be tactless, but he wasn't a jerk. _Well, here's to Ron! _She proceeded to cross her eyes, snarl and clap her hands three times. _Thank goodness Dad wrote that article on Iceland's lucky symbolic movements, otherwise Ron would really be in trouble!_

And humming to herself, she made her way to the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures.


End file.
